Pur Comme de La Boue
by vonmagicae
Summary: When roles are reversed, knew relationships come to light. It's a fight for survival, and only one can come out on top. Is Hogwarts really your home? AU. Cover image credited to knockturnallley on tumblr.


**_Pur Comme de La Boue_**

 _Pure As Mud_

 ** _Chapter One: Enquêtes Edgy_**

 _Edgy Inquiries_

* * *

It was a bleak day. Grey clouds blotted out the sun and made the sky dark. The air was heavy with humidity and it seemed like a storm would soon pass through. On this lonely Saturday evening, one Hermione Granger was heading towards the library; bag over her shoulder and a large textbook in her arms. Some students stared at her in question, wondering why someone would even think about going to the library on Saturday-much less on a day like this. She pointedly ignored the looks-as she always did-and kept walking. She soon reached the library and stepped inside, making sure the doors closed silently behind her. She headed to the first open seat and set her stuff down before walking off. She wandered between the shelves, eyes quickly scanning over the spines of the books, looking for something that would help her with her potions essay. She had actually gotten the majority of the essay done during lunch and free period the day before, but all she needed to do now was finish it up. It took her a few minutes, but she soon found the book she needed and grabbed it off the shelf; returning to her seat. Immediately she flipped open the book and got to work. Roughly an hour later, she had jerked upwards, blinking her eyes open to a room that seemed all-too-bright and the steady sound of rain drumming on the windows and the walls. It took Hermione a moment to realize that she had fallen asleep while writing her essay. She groaned softly, which attracted the attention on a few of the students nearby. She sheepishly ducked her head and stared at her essay, which thankfully hadn't been smudged while she slept. Feeling only a bit more refreshed than when she had started, she looked at the page she was on. She didn't remember reading this page; or having a book this size to begin with.

She distinctly remembered picking up a smaller, thinner, tome that had only slightly yellow pages. This books was wide and thick, taking up most of the space on her side of the table. It's pages were frail and yellow-the lettering was slightly smudged and hard to read in some places. Furrowing her brow, Hermione scanned the page, looking for any sign that this was the book she had grabbed before she fell asleep. She was about to close the book and just blame it on fatigue when something caught her eye. It was a small sentence written in the margin. The handwritten was loopy and neat and the ink was solid and black, showing it had been written recently. She angled the book slightly and tried to read the sentence. _'Fantasy or fiction? Falvalyn family - S6.5x1+367'_ was what she read. "What?" she whispered softly as she brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The words made a little sense to her; it was clearly a debate question on a family, but what didn't make sense was what came after it. The numbers didn't make any sort of sense to her. It seemed like a code to her, but she couldn't think of anything that would require a code as complex as this. It looked like it was a system code of some sort. It reminded her of a the Dewy Decimal System used in libraries. _But what kind of system would use this...?_ Hermione thought. She absently tapped her quill against the book, not caring if any ink accidentally got on the pages. It felt like an eternity later that she finally understood. Those number represented a book and pages! She wasn't sure what 's' meant or what book would ever be numbered '6.5,' but she was quite certain that '1+367' were page numbers.

She took a look at the title of the book, hoping it would give her clues as to what book she needed to find. The title of the book was 'Potions and Medicine Through the Ages.' As if that was very useful. The only information it supplied her was that maybe the family mentioned in the code worked with potions. She then left her pencil in the book where the code was and started to flip through the pages, looking to see if any other messages were left in the margins. She went through the whole book and found nothing else that would help her figure out what the code meant. Hermione quickly dug through her page and pulled out a scrap piece of paper. She quickly jotted down the name of the book and the code before packing all of her supplies back into her bag. The potions essay could wait. She closed the book and stood up, quickly heading back to the shelves. She found a stray cart and put the book there, letting the curiosity of where the book came from be pushed to the back of her mind. She walked up and down the aisles, looking for any book that would be labelled 6.5. She spent a good two hours there, the setting sun and dark clouds making the large library darker than it normally was. The rain hadn't eased it's pace; if anything it seemed to be raining harder than before. Hermione hadn't found any book that seemed to be the one mentioned in the code, and the only place she hadn't checked was the Restricted Section, and there was no way she was going to even ask to get in there. With a resigned sigh, she left the library and headed towards the Great Hall, hoping she hadn't missed dinner.

The closer she got, the more voices she could hear. Letting out a relieved sigh, she entered the Great Hall with a group of young Ravenclaws. She easily spotted Ron's bright ginger hair and then spotted Harry. She quickly made her way over to them and sat down next to Harry; taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "Where have you been?" Harry asked curiously as he turned to look at her. Well, there was no point in lying. Even if there was a reason to lie, those two always had a way of figuring it out. Probably something to do with the Marauders Map that Harry had.

"I was at the library," she answered casually. "I was finishing up the potions essay when I fell asleep-" she rolled her eyes slightly as the two other teens both adopted fake looks of surprise. "-And when I woke up, it seemed as if someone had switched the book I was using. And I flipped through the book a bit and I think I found a code."

"A code?" Ron asked, finally taking a break from eating. "What kind of code?"

Hermione shrugged slightly. "I'm not all too certain, but I'm pretty sure it's a book and some page numbers." She dug through her bag and pulled out the slightly crumpled piece of paper with the code and book title written on it. She placed in on the table for Ron and Harry to look at. "I looked through the library, but I couldn't find anything useful. The only place I didn't check was the Restricted Section."

Harry furrowed his brows as he looked at the code. "Well, it looks like we'll be needing the cloak tonight," he said, his voice lowered so that only they could hear. She nodded her head in agreement. Over the course of five years, she had learned that breaking the rules at Hogwarts wasn't as bad as it seemed. As long as you did it right. The trio passed the rest of the dinner in relative silence, only speaking to rant about a particularly idiotic class or teacher or to pass the salt. As soon as it was done, they took their time heading back to the common room to make sure they didn't look to suspicious by rushing back. They took their usual seats on the couch by the fire place, making small talk while waiting for the rest of the students to go to bed. It was nearly 11 before it was safe for them to sneak out. Harry had gone and retrieved the cloak while Hermione and Ron went over the Marauders map. They soon snuck out of the common room; shuffling slightly to make sure they didn't trip over each other.

It took them a while, but they soon made it to the library. They waited around the corner behind one of the large pillars for the Ravenclaw prefect to pass by before the rushed inside. It was completely dark and silent inside the library; the absence of the rain making every little noise echo. A few lantern were lit here and there, casting long shadows across the wall. They trio easily made their way to the Restricted Section. "Alohamora," Hermione whispered with her want pointed to the door. The lock clicked back with an echo that seemed all too loud. They waited with bated breath to see if anyone would show up and discover them. When no one showed up after a few moments, they pushed open the old door and stepped inside. One of the torches came to life and cast a bright glow across the book shelves in front of them. "So, where do we start?" Ron questioned in a slightly hoarse whisper.

"I guess we just have to pick a shelf and start looking," Hermione answered. She slipped out from under the cloak and headed to the first shelf she saw. Ron followed suit and choose the bookshelf across from Hermione while Harry checked the map before joining the search.

"What book number are we looking for again?" came Harry's questioning voice from somewhere in front of Hermione.

"6.5 or S6.5," she responded, aiming her wand across more of the books. She wasn't going to pull any off of the shelf until she was sure they had the right one. Harry's story from his first time in the Restricted Section had permanently implanted caution into her mind about opening magic books in the Restricted Section. They slowly moved through the shelves, everyone now and then pausing and staying completely still to check if anyone was heading their way. Though the Restricted Section wasn't that large to begin with, it seemed to be taking hours just to complete one shelf. They were starting to get tired, all of them yawning at regular intervals. "I think we should head back," the brunette girl mumbled around a yawn.

"Yeah, agreed," came two low voices from behind. The trio gathered together and slipped back under the cloak, making their way out of the Restricted Section and out of the library. The made their way with fatigued ease back to the dorm. The slipped inside with minimal bickering from the Fat Lady and threw off the cloak.

"We'll need to go back again," Hermione said. "Did you guys find anything useful?" The other two teens shook their heads as a negative. She let out a deep sigh and headed up towards the girl's dorms. "Maybe next time I'll just ask for permission," she mumbled to herself as she disappeared up the stairs. She crept back into the dorm room, careful to try and not wake anyone up. She collapsed on her bed, not bothering to change out of her school outfit. She rolled over to face the window, looking at the dark sky. Then, something caught her eye. On her bedside table was a small, thick, book. It had a dark black leather cover and it's title in gold lettering. 'The First Potion Makers' was the title. Frowning slightly, Hermione sat up and lit the candle beside her. It's soft glow cast shadows across the wall; but luckily no one moved. She picked up the book and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. She looked at the spin and stifled a surprised gasp. The book was labeled with the number 6.5. She quickly scrambled around and grabbed the paper with the code written on it. She opened the book to the first page, eyes quickly scanning over the page.

 _'In this book you will learn about the many families that have helped contribute to the studies of potions and potion making through the ages. The first family, and by far the most controversial, is the Falvalyn family._ ' Hermione bit her lip slightly. So this was the book they had been looking for, and someone had known she was looking for it and placed it in her bedroom. This was getting stranger by the hour. Hopefully this strange helper would eventually choose to make themselves known. She flipped the page, hoping to find out more about this mysterious family that she had never heard of before. Hermione scanned the pages in the dim light, gathering as much information as she could. So far the family were all purebloods who held themselves above others, but weren't mean or arrogant like the Malfoys. They had helped discover new ingredients and combinations for some of the most popular potions back in the day. She wondered what was thought to be so controversial about the family; they seemed like a normal wizarding family to her. She decided that after going through 20 pages worth of info, she could skip to the rest of the code. She then flipped to the other named page-367.

At first sight, she noticed that this page was one big family tree. At the top in fading black letters was written: _'The Falvalyn Family Tree.'_ It was a big family tree with each married couple having a lot of children. Most of the children were married to someone else, but as far as she could tell, only one or two members had died without marrying anyone or having children of their own. Which was alright considering that this was a pureblood family. The mind set of all pure blood families seemed to be 'keep it pure or die alone.' She was about to close the book and go to bed when a branch of the tree caught her eye. It was a lone branch extended from the last recorded family. There was no picture-just a name. Hérmyn Grant. The name made her think of some gangly male with slim glasses and a Slytherin tie. She wasn't sure why. Hermione looked at the page once more, trying to see if there was a reason listed as to why there was no picture or date of birth (or death) for Hérmyn. She glanced up as the candle flickered suddenly and went out. The sky was a bit brighter than when she had first walked back in to the room. She really needed to get to sleep; but the mysteries within the book were gnawing at her. Besides, what if the book thief came back and took the book away? After a moment's though, Hermione put the book under the bed, hoping it would be there when she woke up. She finally got up and changed her clothes as well before slipping back under the covers and immediately dropping into the realm of dreams.

Upon waking up, the brunette immediately groaned. She had a mild headache due to the lack of sleep she got last night (though she honestly should've been used to it by now.) She ran a hand through her slightly frizzled hair while sitting up. Luckily for her, it was a Sunday, so she could take it easy today. She changed her clothes slowly, letting everyone file out of the dorm until she was the only one left. That's when she looked under the bed. She let out a relieved breathe when she saw that the book was still there. Standing back up again, Hermione slipped on her shoes and headed out of the dorm and down to the Great Hall. Ron and Harry were worriedly looking around, and relaxed and smiled when they spotted her walking towards them. She sat down and they immediately turned a questioning look on her. "I found the book last night," she said simply.

"You what?!" the two exclaimed in surprise. A few other students glanced their way, wondering what the fuss was about, but soon turned back around.

"Did we search all night for nothing?" Ron questioned, leaning forward slightly. "I could've really used that sleep!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You get more than I do," she huffed, but continued speaking before they could get into an argument. "And when I got back to the dorm, the book was on my beside table."

Harry's eyes widened slightly. "Who placed it there?" he asked curiously.

Hermione shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure, but I took a look and found something interesting. So the Falvalyn family is a pureblood family-though they don't seem to be anything like the Malfoys-that worked with potions a lot. And I found their family tree in that book. There was this one branch where a couple had one child, but it seemed as if that child had been erased. The name is Hérmyn Grant, and there was no birth or death date to go along with the name."

Ron and Harry exchanged confused glances before turning back to Hermione. "Did you find anything else?" the ginger teen asked, taking a big bite of toast. Hermione shook her head as a negative and took a slice of toast and started to spread jam on it. They fell into a comfortable silence, each of them taking their time to finish their breakfast.

"So, what are we going to do about the situation?" Harry asked. They had figured out the code (somewhat) and learned all about the Flavalyn family. There wasn't much else to do about it.

"I'm going to try and figure out who Hérmyn Grant is," Hermione said in a tone that left no room for argument. "And I have an idea on where to start looking for answers."


End file.
